COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JULY 19, 2017
3B
A FOOD CRAWL THROUGH BMD
A four-day journey through all the food BMD has to offer
The Miners Dinner of steak, beans and cornbread
Ribs, fries, mac and cheese and cornbread
Slabtown wins!
Zach Silva
Smoked mac and cheese with bacon in a bread bowl
I
really
zsilva@cgsentinel.com like carrots.
It was close but Slabtown is taking home
Caitlyn May
bragging rights for a year after beating out
cmay@cgsentinel.com Lemati in the 58th Annual Bohemia Mining
Days (BMD) Feud Contest.
Modeled after the storied feud of the city's origin, the feud
contests have been a staple in BMD culture for decades. The
story goes that Slabtown formed on the west side of the Coast
Fork of the river and enjoyed fi r planks as sidewalks which also
served as the originator of its name. Lemati did not enjoy such
luxuries and was a muddy mess of fl ooding where today's Main
St. is located. That is, until, the railroad came to town.
Now the proud owners of the newest technology in transpor-
tation, Lemati now had access to travelers more readily than
their rivals in Slabtown. The east side group, however, had the
post offi ce. That is, until it was hoisted up and stolen to cross
the border and settle in Lemati.
Every year for BMD, the feud is taken up again with beard
growing contests, cherry-pit spitting games, candlestick races
and other old-time contests.
According to festival coordinator Cindy Weeldreyer, it has
become diffi cult for the festival to keep track of how many
times each team has won but this year's champion is Slabtown
with 145 points to Lemati's 117.
To take home the victory, Slabtown scored wins in the Dig-
ging in the Dark contest, pie eating competition, the kids' cher-
ry-pit spitting contest as well as the men's and the 20 mile by
wheelbarrow test.
The other
day I accidentally ate a pound. I
also like salad. And apples. And
blueberries. And cheese and
crackers, too. These are essen-
tially the staples of my diet. Yet
for some reason, none of these
foods are around at festivals.
This was very apparent as last
weekend at the Bohemia Min-
ing Days (BMD) when I, with
the help of my editor, decided
that I was going to try all of the
food that this celebration has to
offer. Festivals and food go hand
in hand and so in this American
tradition of excess amounts of
fried food and meat, I was on a
journey to try what BMD has to
offer. Here is my journey:
I began this adventure of eat-
ing on Thursday night. The fi rst
meal came from the BMD board
and featured steak and beans.
This meal which is made to mir-
ror what the miners ate after a
long hard day on the job was
less fi tting for someone who
had been sitting at a comput-
er all day. Regardless of a dif-
ference in occupation with the
miners, I quickly devoured this
meal, and its sides: a cornbread
muffi n, cookies and lemonade,
with reckless abandon. It was a
delight and I was ready for ev-
erything else that was to come.
Friday at the festival I scanned
through the food items and set-
tled on my favorite option: ribs.
This meal from H&H Barbe-
que was the meal of the week-
end: a half rack of ribs, a corn-
bread muffi n, fries and mac and
cheese. This near perfection on
a plate was overwhelming. My
taste buds cheered with every
bite of the ribs that were doused
in BBQ sauce and the fresh cut
fries. While the mac and cheese
was a little too mushy, every-
thing else on the plate compen-
sated for this one downside.
This meal that kept me full deep
into the day was a true treasure.
Saturday was full of food and
required assistance from some
accomplices. With the help of
The Bohemia burger
my friends Hunter and Eric, I
was able to try my heart’s con-
tent without having to eat every-
thing. And they got fed. A win-
win-win.
We started the day with the
Chuckwagon breakfast of bis-
cuits and gravy, scrambled eggs
and sausage links; a good meal
that would be hard to mess up.
After watching the parade we
were back to eating. There was
the Bohemia Burger that had
pulled pork on it that was just
fi ne. Then there was smoked
macaroni and cheese with bacon
served in a bread bowl which
was a strange show of excessive
carbohydrates. There was also a
deep-fried Twinkie with straw-
berries and whip cream which
seemed like a soggier version
of strawberries on a waffl e. And
then there was the 32nd An-
nual Chicken BBQ which was
an overfl owing plate of BBQ
chicken, baked beans, coleslaw,
a roll and a cookie which was
just tasty and reminded me of
the joy of a summer picnic.
Through teamwork and being
three 22-year-old males who
can generally just eat, we were
able to make our way through
this food. The journey of food
ended Sunday with the Miners
Breakfast at Bohemia Saddle
Camp with a course of pan-
cakes, ham and fried eggs.
Ultimately the food wavered
from passable to delicious to
good. It was exciting to be able
to see the joy that the food was
prepared with and how food
really works to bring people
together especially at a festival
like this.
While my stomach has recov-
ered from eating Ron Swanson
levels of meat, I just hope that
next year there is a booth full of
nothing but carrots and apples.
BMD's annual
5K run
Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Post a picture of
your garden (vegetable, fruit or
fl ower garden) on our Facebook page
and earn the chance to
WIN A $200 GIFT CERTIFICATE
CONTEST RULES: Visit the Cottage Grove Senti-
nel Facebook page at https://www. facebook.com/
pages/Cottage-Grove-Sentinel/ and upload a picture
of your vegetable, fruit orfl ower garden to the photo
album section of the page. In the comment space, de-
scribe what makes you so proud of your garden. The
person who receives the most “likes” by July 31,
2017 will win the $200 in gift certifi cates valid at the
participating businesses. The name of the winner will
be posted on our Facebook page on August 9, 2017.
Participants must be 18 years old or more. Previous
winners, employees of this newspaper and participat-
ing businesses and their immediate family members
are not eligible to participate in this contest.
FRESH PRODUCE
LOTS OF VARIETY
Patton’s
Country Gardens
We have the equipment
to help keep your garden
looking great.
Apricots, Peaches, Berries,
Dahlias
Variety of Other
Fruits & Veggies Available
Open Tuesday - Saturday 10 - 5 • Sunday 12 - 5 • Closed Monday
80432 Delight Valley School Rd.
541-942-7672
As the sun began to set in
Cottage Grove, the 53 runners
and walkers of the Gold Rusk
5K hosted by the group Run CG
Run came out to race last Fri-
day night. The twilight race that
started at 9 p.m. is in its 5th year
of existence and has become an-
other tradition of the Bohemia
Mining Days celebration.
“This is my fi rst night race
and the weather was magnifi -
cent; couldn’t ask for anything
better,” said Cottage Grove na-
tive Matt Davis who was attend-
ing his fi rst Bohemia Mining
Days in a decade. “The course
was beautiful they put on a re-
ally good race… I couldn’t have
asked for a better run.”
A man dressed as a miner,
complete with a long fl owing
wig and beard in addition to a
sweat band across his forehead,
was on a bike that led the fi eld
of runners through the course
that started on 6th and Washing-
ton street and made two loops
of mile a mile and a half before
fi nishing up where it started.
On the women’s side of the
race, Amelia Slama-Catron won
in a time of 22:37. The men’s
side saw Jarrett Forrest being
named winner with a time of
18:08 but Alex Dickinson run-
ning a time of 17:07. Dickinson,
who did not start the race on
time because he got lost during
the warm up which led him to
not cross fi rst, had no qualms
about not being named champi-
on. As is generally the case with
these races, the participants are
there for the community and not
as much for the competition.
“It’s fun to see the race com-
munity here and with such good
camaraderie and see familiar
faces,” said Jim Markus who
has run the race each year since
its inception. “It’s always just
a personal challenge for me as
I’m getting older.”
Markus was also quick to
note that he holds the title as
“the fastest Luther pastor in
Cottage Grove, and the only one
of course.”
Jim Settelmeyer, who helped
organize the event and was
charge of race day operations,
saw this race as a success.
“Feels wonderful, seemed
liked people had a good time,”
said Settelmeyer. “[We’re] try-
ing to have our little connec-
tions four times a year.”
Also notable at the race was
National Football League Hall
of Fame member and former
Indianapolis Colts head coach
Tony Dungy and his wife Lau-
ren, who reside in Eugene, ran
in the race with a pair of their
friends.